


Picture of a Ghost

by occultclysms



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Crossdressing, Fake Character Death, Kissing, M/M, Mystery, i jared kushnered chanyeol lol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-01
Updated: 2020-10-01
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:02:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26744080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/occultclysms/pseuds/occultclysms
Summary: Staring up at Chanyeol is the face of Jongdae Kim; another student who died two years ago. He really shouldn’t be there is what’s swirling in Chanyeol’s mind. Part of him wants to get to the bottom of this mystery immediately, but a much more reasonable part says to just throw away the picture and never look back.
Relationships: Kim Jongdae | Chen/Park Chanyeol
Kudos: 20
Collections: Shall we Chen? Fictional Fest First Round





	Picture of a Ghost

Chanyeol has always loved working for the school newspaper, mainly because it was a break from the stresses of college life— but today, being a photographer is arguably more stressful than just being a regular student. Staring up at Chanyeol is the face of Jongdae Kim; another student who died two years ago.  _ He really shouldn’t be there _ is what’s swirling in Chanyeol’s mind. Part of him wants to get to the bottom of this mystery immediately, but a much more reasonable part says to just throw away the picture and never look back.

But Chanyeol can’t do that. Firstly, he needs to call Baekhyun so he doesn’t freak out. Then, he needs to set this picture aside before deciding what to do with it. Being rash— in either sense, is probably not a good idea.

So he dials up Baekhyun, the white light of his phone hurting his eyes from being in the darkroom for so long. Granted, that’s probably deserved because he keeps using photography as an excuse to himself to not do his homework.

“Hello, Chanyeol?”

“Hey, Baek,” Chanyeol says. “Do you remember that kid, Jongdae Kim who died two years ago?”

“That’s... A strange question. But yeah, I do,” Baekhyun replies hesitantly, unsure of where Chanyeol is going with this.

“Well, I developed my pictures from yesterday and you’ll never guess who’s in them.” There’s silence for a moment before Baekhyun is cursing.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Baekyun asks. “Are you sure it’s him?”

“He’s pretty distinct looking, so I don’t really think it could be anyone else,” Chanyeol defends. He’s sure this is Jongdae even though it doesn’t make sense that it is him.

“Okay, hang on. I’ll come over and evaluate for myself,” Baekhyun decides. “I’ll bring your freshman yearbook to compare for certain.” 

“Thank you,” Chanyeol replies before hanging up the phone.

Baekhyun gets there within fifteen minutes, slightly frazzled, but smiling anyway. He brushes his hair out of his eyes and comes over to Chanyeol to look at the pictures, book bags bumping against his legs.

“You’re right,” Baekhyun begins. “This does look a lot like Jongdae, but since I have the evidence to confirm it or not, let’s take a look. And if it’s nothing, I’ll buy you froyo on our way back to the dorm.”

“Oh sweet, now I  _ want _ this to be all in my head,” Chanyeol replies, shoving his hands in his pockets, letting Baekhyun pull out the yearbook and flip through the pages.

“Frozen Yoghurt always puts things into perspective,” Baekhyun mumbles, skimming pages and pages of pictures of college freshmen. 

Eventually Baekhyun finds the J’s and then gets to Jongdae. Chanyeol leans closer and moves the photo he took so it’s next to the yearbook one. Sure enough, it’s the same person. Jongdae looks a bit more grown up with a stronger jawline, but there’s no doubt in Chanyeol’s mind that it’s him.

“That’s just great.”

“Looks like you’re buying froyo,” Baekhyun says, clearly trying to get a laugh out of Chanyeol, but his anxiety is spiked. Most people don’t just fake their death and then stay around for two more years. In fact,  _ no one _ does that. And the fact that Chanyeol might have stumbled onto something terrible, freaks him out.

“What now?” Chanyeol asks.

“Okay, I can tell you’re freaking out because you never ask me for advice unless it’s on clothing or you don’t think you can make the right decision.” Baekhyun turns to Chanyeol and puts his hands on his shoulders, making Chanyeol face him. “This picture has him in the bleachers. Is he in any others because then we can figure out how to find him.”

“I didn’t finish looking through the ones I took in the library,” Chanyeol admits. “I just sorta freaked out and called you.”

“That’s okay, let’s look at those and see because if we only have one picture in a super public area we probably won’t find him there again as it looks like he’s going somewhere and just walking past these bleachers,” Baekhyun points out.

“Good plan,” Chanyeol replies, breaking away from Baekhyun to look over the last few photos while Baekhyun holds up the bleacher photo and gives it a scrutinizing look. The first few pictures don’t even have people in them, so Chanyeol sets those aside first.

“It looks like he could have at least been heading towards the library,” Baekhyun suggests. Chanyeol hums and flicks through a few more pictures. “When did you take these?”

“Like two hours ago,” Chanyeol says. “Oh, there he is. I think. He’s sitting at one of the tables in the library reading something.” Chanyeol shows Baekhyun the photo who nods and clicks his tongue.

“You know the library is still open for another hour or so…” Baekhyun trails off. “And considering Jongdae can’t swipe his school ID to check out books anymore…”

“Are you saying what I think you’re saying?” Chanyeol asks, unsure if excitement or anxiety is the strongest emotion he’s feeling right now.

“I better be.” Both of them set down what they are holding and nearly sprint outside to Baekhyun’s car. Chanyeol could drive if he wanted to, but he likes walking a lot more since that gives him better photos anyway.

“Shotgun,” Chanyeol calls and Baekhyun shakes his head, climbing open the driver’s door on his tiny blue car.

“There is literally no one else in the car and I  _ always _ drive,” Baekhyun points out.

“Yeah because The Blueberry is  _ your _ car,” Chanyeol counters, putting his seatbelt on. “If it was my car, I would call shotgun and then get in the driver’s seat.”

“That makes no sense.”

“Just drive.” Baekhyun switches the car into drive and hustles the seven minute drive over to the library and they make it in only five. 

There isn’t a ton of parking near the library, so Baekhyun sends Chanyeol off on his own with a promise to come inside in a moment. Chanyeol nods and jogs inside, nodding hello to the librarian.

In the photo, Jongdae was seated on the second floor in the back left, so Chanyeol uses his knowledge of school building layouts, things he’s known since middle school since his dad works at the school as head of admissions.

True to Baekhyun’s guess, Jongdae is sitting there with a pile of books surrounding him. Chanyeol swallows down his fears of people and walks over to him. Jongdae looks up and gives Chanyeol a questioning look.

“Do I know you?” Jongdae asks.

“No, but you’re supposed to be dead, and I’m Chanyeol Park—” Before Chanyeol can even explain how he found Jongdae, Jongdae is bolting from his chair towards the stairs. “Hey wait!” Yelling in a library isn’t classy, but sometimes things just happen. 

Chanyeol’s grateful that his camera isn’t hanging around his neck as he takes off after Jongdae, determined to catch him. After all, Chanyeol has at least a few inches on Jongdae, all of which are in his legs, so he can get him if he really pushes it.

Jongdae stomps down the stairs and top speed, but Chanyeol takes them three at a time to catch up and it works. To a point. Chanyeol is within arms reach of Jongdae right as he’s about to leave the main room of the library, so Chanyeol lunges forward and tackles him without even thinking.

They land right in front of the librarian's feet who looks down on them in dismay before kicking them out of the library with a warning that if such things ever happen again, she’ll call both of their parents, because acting like middle schoolers gets you treated like middle schoolers.

Chanyeol grabs Jongdae’s arm so he can’t make a run for it again while catching his breath right outside the library, standing on the front steps, scanning around for Baekhyun.

“Alright, what the fuck?” Chanyeol asks. “I didn’t even ask you anything and you tried to run. What was that?” Jongdae snorts.

“You would get it if you knew why I am  _ hiding. _ Which I can evidently tell that you  _ don’t _ based upon the fact that you tried to catch me yourself and didn’t send your father after me,” Jongdae says.

“Wait… What?” Chanyeol asks, utterly confused. “What does my dad have to do with this?”

“Everything. And would you  _ let go of my arm _ , I’m not going to run away again,” Jongdae demands.

“I don’t trust you,” Chanyeol counters. “You’re super suspicious, but I also need answers now. I just saw you in the photos I took for the school newspaper and recognized you.”

“I knew I should have gotten into drag,” Jongdae mutters. Chanyeol’s mind is spinning, but he spots Baekhyun, so he waves with the arm that isn’t holding onto Jongdae and Baekhyun walks over.

“This isn’t how I expected to find you,” Baekhyun comments, looking over the two of them hesitantly.

“Well, you see–” Chanyeol begins.

“Chanyeol here showed up and spooked me, so I tried to run,” Jongdae finishes. “I don’t think I know you by the way.”

“I’m Baekhyun, Chanyeol’s roommate, best friend and personal nanny,” Baekhyun introduces. Chanyeol decides not to start the argument about who cleans up more for who because that doesn’t matter right now.

“Nice to meet you,” Jongdae says. “But I can’t answer all your questions because it puts my investigation in jeopardy… So, goodbye now.”

“Wait just a minute,” Baekhyun interjects, holding up a hand in front of Jongdae. “If  _ we _ found you, whoever you’re running from might as well. Let us help you. And worst case scenario you have to fake your death again.”

“That’s mildly funny, but I’m refusing to laugh because you’re right,” Jongdae mutters. “But let's at least move away from such an obvious spot.” The three of them, Chanyeol still gripping Jongdae, walk over to an oak tree on the edge of the lawn and sit with Jongdae in the center, back pressed against it.

“Okay, so start talking,” Baekhyun prods.

“This still isn’t a great spot…” Jongdae wriggles out of Chanyeol’s hold but before Chanyeol can say anything, Jongdae climbs into the oak tree, hidden mostly by the tree branches. “Climb up, fool.” Baekhyun sighs before following Jongdae’s lead and then Chanyeol hesitantly climbs up after him. Trees aren’t Chanyeol’s best friend and he’s made his peace with that, but it still means he’s a bit nervous to be up here.

“Isn’t this a bit much?” Chanyeol asks and Jongdae blinks at him.

“Chanyeol, your father gave illegal contributions to this school to get you in and to help use it as a funnel for laundered money. He also evades taxes on a regular basis, and because your uncle was starting to cooperate with the feds on all this, he hired a prostitute so he would cheat on your aunt and  _ then _ he sent said video of that entire situation  _ to _ your aunt,” Jongdae explains and Chanyeol’s mouth drops open, gasping.

“What on Earth?” Chanyeol mumbles. “And how does this have anything to do with you? And why hasn’t he been arrested if this is true?” His mind is spinning which isn’t great since he’s in a tree, but he grips the branch beneath him in hopes of not falling out.

“I kinda caught on that the school’s finances weren’t quite right and then got sucked in. I was an intern for one of the accountants on campus and we would go through documents together,” Jongdae expained. “Then I was fucking threatened to shut up or I would be forced to.”

Chanyeol’s eyes feel like they are about to bug out of his head. Baekhyun hasn’t said anything which makes Chanyeol feel not so great as well. He looks to Baekhyun, hoping for anything that would make this situation better.

“Your family  _ has _ been a little sketchy,” Baekhyun admits, looking down. “They basically told me to stop living with you because of my quote unquote ‘lifestyle choices’.”

“They did  _ what _ ?” Chanyeol’s voice breaks and he reaches his hand out to Baekhyun who takes it. “I trust Baekhyun with my life, so I’ll at least keep an open mind to this idea.”

“That’s better than nothing,” Jongdae replies. “I have formal evidence back at my apartment that you can look over if you’d like.”

“Yeah, I would want to do that,” Chanyeol mumbles.

“Okay, but assuming all of this is one hundred percent true,” Baekhyun begins. “How on Earth do we prove this?”

“I have a good amount of evidence about the money being misspent and laundered, but I need to connect Chanyeol’s dad back to it, so I need to break into his office,” Jongdae says.

“I can get in there  _ easy _ .” Chanyeol sighs. “Just let me make sure there’s real evidence here because I don’t want to believe this is true if it’s not, y’know.”

“Yeah, I get it,” Jongdae replies and Baekhyun squeezes Chanyeol’s hand. “Then we’ll see if we need anything else.”

“Good plan.”

Line break

Chanyeol and Baekhyun go back to Jongdae’s apartment and the evidence is all pretty damning. In front of Jongdae, Chanyeol keeps a brave face, but Baekhyun lets him cry when they get back home. They also flesh out how to break into Chanyeol’s father’s office.

Since, as Baekhyun said, Chanyeol’s parents aren’t super fond of him, he’ll stay behind in The Blueberry while Chanyeol and Jongdae sneak in.

So that’s where they are today. Jongdae has a hat pulled down low over his eyes and Baekhyun put some makeup on him to make his bone structure look as different as he could without it seeming unnatural.

“Do you remember where we need to look?” Jongdae asks, voice lower than a whisper as the two of them walk through the halls of the school admin building, Chanyeol swallowing harshly.

“Yeah, I know. It’s not completely unusual to see me walking around here, so no one should say anything to me and if my dad is in his office, then I’ll lure him out and you’ll sneak in. Then we’ll leave, hopefully without any complications…” Chanyeol repeats from memory. It’s all very straight forward and should be fine. They retrieve some documents and then that will be the end of it.

“Great.” Someone walks towards them down the hall and Chanyeol averts his gaze towards the floor in an effort not to be recognized. 

They reach Chanyeol’s dad’s office and Jongdae lingers two doors down so as not to arouse any suspicion. Chanyeol knocks on the door and waits for a moment, but there’s no answer. He tries to open the door but it’s locked. Glancing over at Jongdae, Chanyeol shrugs and beckons him over.

“You’re lucky I always have at least three back up plans at any point,” Jongdae mumbles, pulling a hairpin out from underneath his hat and sticking it into the lock, wiggling it around until there’s a soft click causing Jongdae to smile. “Still got it.”

“Haven’t been picking locks recently?” Chanyeol asks, walking into the office and naturally drifting over his father’s desk. Jongdae closes the door and follows him.

“I haven’t actually. Haven’t needed to because I’ve gotten so good at breaking window locks.” Jongdae moves over to the filing cabinet and checks if it’s locked, which it isn’t, before flicking through files.

“I can’t tell if that’s a joke or not,” Chanyeol admits.

“It is, but I could absolutely break a window lock if I really had to,” Jongdae clarifies.

“See anything promising?” Chanyeol asks after awhile.

“No, sadly,” Jongdae mumbles. They are quiet for a moment, Chanyeol not knowing Jongdae well enough to feel comfortable making mindless conversation. There’s a voice at the door and Chanyeol is moving before he’s thinking. There’s a coat closet in the corner of his dad’s office which can fit two hopefully, so he grabs Jongdae and drags him in there.

Right as he closes the doors, the office door opens and they both hear Chanyeol’s dad mumble to himself about how he swore that he locked the door on his way out. There’s someone else there as Chanyeol can tell by the pattern of steps on the floor even though he can’t see anything.

Jongdae is pulled in right against his chest, barely breathing, hands holding onto Chanyeol’s. Chanyeol squeezes Jongdae’s hand as reassurance. Chanyeol’s dad and whoever he’s with thankfully aren’t there for long, leaving right after talking about another possible donation to the school which doesn’t sit right with Chanyeol.

Then the moment between him and Jongdae is over as Jongdae is pulling away from him and climbing out of the coat closet and walking back over to the filing cabinet. Chanyeol shakes off any leftover feelings from simply being close with someone and helps Jongdae look through the remaining files.

Unfortunately, neither of them find anything.

  
  
  


Line break

Chanyeol’s family hosts a lot of school fundraisers, almost all of which Chanyeol is forced to attend, so with the help of Baekhyun’s major of fashion and design, along with his natural makeup skills, Jongdae is going to dress in drag as Chanyeol’s date to the fundraiser. As a way to search for evidence in Chanyeol’s house. Since there was none in his dad’s office there has to be some somewhere and this is the next logical place to look for it.

Said fundraiser is tonight, so Jongdae is currently sitting on Baekhyun’s bed, getting primped to the nines. It just goes to show how good Baekhyun is at doing makeup because the end result is amazing. Not that Jongdae wasn’t handsome before, but Baekhyun really knows to accentuate all the right features.

“Now time for fun stuff,” Baekhyun cheers and Jongdae laughs.

“Was this not fun?” Jongdae asks, teasing Baekhyun.

“Okay, yes it was, but now you get a wig and an outfit,” Baekhyun replies, disappearing back into his closet for a moment.

“What do you think, Chanyeol?” Jongdae asks. Since the failed break in, the two of them have gotten quite a bit closer, but Chanyeol also feels like he doesn’t really know much about Jongdae. He’s picked up on little details about him, like how he really enjoys wearing plaid or how he won’t drink milk even though he’s not lactose intolerant, but he doesn’t know any of the bigger picture stuff. Like dreams and aspirations— the things that can make or break any sort of connection between two people.

Chanyeol also isn’t sure what to call their connection. He feels differently around Jongdae than how he feels around Baekhyun, but he doesn’t know if that’s just because he hasn’t known Jongdae as long or if it’s more emblematic of him having a crush on someone… 

Dear god, it’s been probably seven years since Chanyeol’s last crush. Back in middle school when he couldn’t take his eyes off this girl who could solve every math problem without even trying. And it would have to be back to probably fourth grade when he last liked a boy. Having a crush on a best friend seems almost like a rite of passage to sexuality discovery despite the fact that Chanyeol is label-less as of right now.

Though he’s comfortable enough with the fact that he likes certain people and doesn’t like others to call himself most likely queer. And that’s as far as digging deep inside himself as he would like to do for now because figuring out identity is hard.

“Hello?” Baekhyun asks, waving a hand in front of Chanyeol’s face and snapping him out of his identity and label related thoughts.

“Hi, Baek,” Chanyeol replies, pretending like he’s been paying attention this entire time.

“Are you ready to see the finished look? And then you need to pull on a suit and let me style your hair before I’m letting you walk out that door,” Baekhyun warns and Chanyeol nods.

“Yep, I’m ready.”

He is very much in fact,  _ not _ ready. Though, he couldn’t have really prepared himself for just how much Jongdae suited strapless jumpsuits.

“My shoulders feel exposed,” Jongdae whines, crossing his arms over his chest.

“You can wear a jacket, don’t worry,” Baekhyun reassures. Jongdae nods and Baekhyun gives him something to wear over it. The wig is a simple black bob and almost looks like it could be Jongdae’s natural hair if he grew it out longer, so props to Baekhyun for totally nailing this.

“Now go get dressed,” Baekhyun directs, pointing Chanyeol towards the bathroom who pouts, but gets up anyway.

When Chanyeol is dressed, Baekhyun drives them both to the party, refusing to dress in anything nicer than sweatpants because he thinks he’s above it and his face looks nice enough to justify not dressing fancy.

“Okay, good luck guys, and if you need anything, I’m just a text away,” Baekhyun reminds them.

“Thank you,” Chanyeol says. “I promise everything will be fine.” They both step out of the car and Chanyeol takes Jongdae’s arm in his.

“I just realized that I don’t have a fake name,” Jongdae whispers.

“Just make one up,” Chanyeol whispers back, purposefully taking smaller steps than normal so they have more time to come up with something.

“Okay, Joohyun. That’s my sister’s name so it shouldn’t be too hard to remember,” Jongdae says.

“Great.” They walk into Chanyeol’s family home with their chins held high, ready to find some incriminating evidence.

There’s no issues sneaking upstairs or even nosing around a fair bit, snapping pics of any important documents as they go.

“I hear someone coming up the stairs,” Jongdae whispers. “Is there anywhere good to hide in here?” Chanyeol looks around and shakes his head. 

“Yeah, there’s nothing,” Chanyeol replies. 

“Do you trust me?” Jongdae asks, taking a step closer to Chanyeol. 

“Yeah, I trust you.” 

“Good, so follow my lead,” Jongdae says, wrapping his arms around Chanyeol’s neck and pulling him into a kiss who freezes as he has no idea what he’s doing. Chanyeol sort of... has never kissed anyone before. 

The door swings open before Chanyeol really needs to figure out what he’s doing thankfully, so they break apart and pretend to be scandalized. His lips feel kinda tingly and he resists touching them to confirm that that really did happen. It’s only a maid, and not Chanyeol’s dad so it’s not the end of the world. 

“Dude, leave,” Chanyeol says, keeping Jongdae’s face hidden in his chest. The maid mumbles an apology and leaves as quickly as she came in. 

“Well, that could have gone worse,” Jongdae comments, not pulling away from Chanyeol at all. 

“So what do we do now?” Chanyeol asks.

“You can post this to the newspaper and we can also submit it to the proper authorities,” Jongdae replies, but that doesn’t answer Chanyeol’s unspoken question. “What’s with the look?”

“What look?” Chanyeol deflects.

“You look disappointed somehow, but I don’t know why. I’m not a mind reader,” Jongdae points out.

“I also wanted to know how we’re gonna change now,” Chanyeol admits.

“Well, you’re my friend now at least— though I don’t usually kiss my friends even to get away with something sneaky,” Jongdae says, shyness coming through visually even with the makeup on.

“Oh, well, I don’t either,” Chanyeol stutters.

“Do you like boys?” Jongdae asks.

“You could say that.”

“Then go out on a date with me.”

“You don’t have to ask me twice.”


End file.
